Telephone attachment



J. E. RHODES. T ELEPHONE ATTACHMENT. APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1920.

1,370,152, Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

@513 wow L01 JOHN ELSTON arrows, on 'rnnnnck, nnw JERSEY. I

TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Pa e.

Patented Mar. 1-, 1-1921.

Application filed May 6, 1920. Serial no. 379,280.

To all whomz't may concem:

Be it known that I, JOHN ELSTON RHODES, a citizen of the' United States, and a resident of Teaneck.- county of Bergen, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in-Teleph'one Attachments, of which the following is a specification. y i y This invention relates to telephone attachments, and'broad'ly considered, comprehends the provision of a novel and simply constructed device'for attachment to-the mouth piece of a telephone transmitter which'is so constructed as to provide an effective guard for preventing the lips of the speaker from coming into contact with the rim of the mouth piece cone. Thus the attachment minimizes the possibility of the contraction of contagious diseases by telephone users.

One of the important objects of thepres ent invention is to providean attachment for the above purpose which can be easily and quickly applied to or removed from the telephone transmitter, and 'may also be readily displaced or moved to an inoperative position upon the mouth-piece.

It is another object of my invention to provide an attachment which is of such construction as to afford means for the display of advertising matter, conspicuously located so that it will be in the direct line of vision of the telephone user.

With the above and other objects in View, my invention consists in the provision of'an attachment for telephones as above'characterized, and in the form, construction and relative arrangement of its several parts as will be hereinafter more fully described,

illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and subsequently incorporated 1n the subjoined claims.

.In the drawings, wherein I have illlustrated several practical and satisfactory em: bodiments of the invention, and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views: i 1

Figure ,1 is a side elevation of a telephone transmitter having the attachment applied thereto, and alsoshowing the latter in dotted lines, in an inoperative position.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view. l

Pg. 4 is a perspective view of the attachment removed from thetransmi-tter, and,

I4 j :5 v is a front elevation, the mouth piece cone being in section, and illustrating a slightly modified'form ofthe device.

' Referring in detail to the drawings, and I more particularly to Figs. l to 4 thereof,'5 designates'the mouth-piece cone of a telephone transmitter, to which the presentat-f tachment is adapted to be applied." The attachment proper is formed froma single length of resilient wire bent toprovide the convergentlydisposed intermediate portions.

6. From the free ends of these convergent,

portions 6' of the wire, the ends ofthe wire are laterally extended and oppositely bowed, as at'7, to provide downwardly'projecting clamping arms which are adapted} to em: brace the mouth-piece cone 5;

These I clamping arms terminate in the eyes 8 which eliminate rough or ragged edges such as would result from. thecutting of the wire; At theother or more widely spaced ends of the side portions 6, the wire is abruptly bent or curved'upwardly, asat 9, andthese bent portions of the wireare adapted to ex; ert a resilient frictional bearing engagement upon the perimeter of'Tth'e mouth 'pie ce cone, so thatfthey will tightly hug the latter. The central portion of the wire, constituting the connection between the side portions 6, pro= jects in advance of themouth-piececone for about one quarter of-an inch, and is up wardly bowed or curved, as at '10, such curved central portionof the wire'being disposed substantially in concentric'rela'tion to the periphery of the transmittermouth piece. I r I K1 5 It will be seen that theattachment as thus far. described, consists merely o'f'a single re silient length of wire, having the bowed clamping arm 7 to snugly embracethe mouth-piece cone 5 at 'the'base thereof, and the central forwardly projecting'guard portion 10,. which s'erveslto prevent contact of 1 the lips'of the speaker-againstthe rim or perimeter-of the mouth piece. I

- In order to increase the durability and utility of the attachment I propose tof'p'rovide a connecting'bridge plate 12between the converging side portions 6 of theiwire attachment. This. bridge plate is curved in.

concentric relation to the mouth piece, and has its side edges turned around the port-ions 6 of the wire, as at 13. Thus it willbe ap-g preciated that this connecting or bridge plate greatly reinforces and strengthens {the structure of the wire attachment. f The plate l2 also is held in c loserelatio'n to the riphery of the transmitter mouth-piece by the side portions 6 of the wire.

As heretofore observed, when the attachment is applied, the'ben ds 9 in the-wire exert a frictional pressure upon the rim or perimeter of the mounth-piece, and thus serve to yieldingly retain the attachment in itsv operative position, as seen in full lines in Flg; 1. However, when it is desired to dispense with the use of the attachment, it may be readily swung or shifted upon the transmitter mouth-piece to the lower side thereof, asshown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,

. without necessitating its removal.

In Fig. 5 of'the drawings,'I have disclosed a' slightly modified embodiment of my invention, wherein the bridge platey12 at its rear or narrower end is formed with an angularly bent upwardly projecting portion 14, provided with side wings or extensions 15 projecting in opposite directions from the bridge plate, and in concentric relation to the perlphery of the transmitter box. The portion 14 of the bridge plate is provided with an opening '16 therein, through which the call number of thetelephone is visible. 7 In all other respects the attachment is of the same construction as previously described. In either construction the attachment may be readily rotated upon the transmitter mouth-piece to its lower inoperative position, so that one may use the telephone, if desired, without having the lips come into contact with the guard portion 10 of the attachment. The s de wings 15 of the modified construction provide additional advertising space, which may be effectively utilized as'seen in Fig.5. Due to the location of the attachment upon the transmitter mouthpiece and the arrangement of theadvertising matter thereon, the latter will be, atall timesyin the direct line of vision during the use of the telephone.

, Fromthe foregoing description considered in connection with the accompanying drawlngs, the constructlon, manner of operation and: several advantages of my improved telephone attachment will be readily under stood. Owing to the extreme simplicityof the device, it is obvious that the same may be manufactured atia very low cost, and that its serviceability and utility is materially increased by the fact that the attachment readilylends itself tothe effective display of advertisements.

;.-In theforegoing descriptionl have particularly described several constructions of the'device which are of a practical and satisceptible of numerous other alternative con structions, and accordingly reserve the privilege of adopting such additional modifications in the rerm proporaon, and rela longitudinally over the mouth-piececonaand an intermediateportionconnecting the side portions of .the wire disposed forwardly of the perimeter of the mouth-piece cone in the operative position of the attachmenta'nd constitutinga guard to prevent contact of the lips of the speaker with the mouth-piece, and means connecting the side portions of the wire to eachother to prevent the spreading movement thereof. I

2. An attachment for telephone transmitters and the like, comprising a single length of resilient wire, having end portions bowed in opposite directions to clampingly embrace the mouthpiece cone at the small end thereof, and' side portions projectingfforwardly from the end portions, and exerting a frictional retaining pressure at theirfor ward ends upon the perimeter'of the-mouth piecev cone to. prevent casual I circumferential movement of the attachment, said side portions of the wire being connected by a central upwardly bowed portion constituting a guard projecting in advance of the mouthpiece to prevent the lips of the speakerjcon tacting with the mouth piece cone, and a bridge plate'connecting/ the spaced side por tions of the wire to prevent spreading movement thereof. 1 r

3. An attachment for telephone transmitters. and the like comprising asingle length of. resilient wire having oppositely bowed end portions to embrace the mouth-piece cone, and sidep ortions projecting forwardly from said end portions and connected by a v centralportion of the wireconstituting a guard to preventthe lips of the speaker contacting with themouth-piece c one, and means connecting said'side portions'of the wire to hold the same against relative end portions to embrace; the mouth-piece cone, and side' portions projecting forwardly from said endportions andconnected by a central upwardly bowed portionof the wire constituting a guard topr'eventthe lipsjof the speaker contacting with the mouthpiece cone, and a bridge plate connectings'aid' side in portions of the wire, and disposed "in 'con' centric relation to the mouth-piece cone, said vided at one end with an extension, said 10 bridge plate adapted to bear advertising bridge plate and the extension being adapted matter on its surface. t bear advertising matter, and the extension 5. An attachment for telephones compris being provided with an opening through 5 ing a resilient wire having connected side which the call number of the telephone is portions and oppositely bowed clamping visible. 1 15 portions for detachable engagement with a In testimony that I claim the foregoing part of the telephone structure, a bridge as my invention, 1 have signed my name. plate connecting said side portions, and pro- JOHN ELS TON RHODES. 

